ACLU: Proposed subpoena power could invade privacy

By PETER JACKSON, Associated Press, HARRISBURG — A bill to make it easier for Pennsylvania prosecutors to obtain certain personal information

Friday, April 5, 2013

The legislation would allow agents of the state attorney general and county district attorneys to issue administrative subpoenas, instead of the court-issued search warrants that are currently required, to identify people suspected of transmitting child pornography.

The subpoenas would require service providers to supply names, addresses and phone numbers of customers traced through their computers’ Internet Protocol addresses.

Police still would need to show cause and obtain search warrants signed by a judge in order to gather evidence and make arrests.

The bill could come up for a House vote as early as Monday.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane supports the measure because she says it would allow authorities to respond more quickly to evidence of such activity.

In a recent letter to House members, Kane said the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a national network financed by the U.S. Justice Department, identified nearly 3,000 Pennsylvania IP addresses that downloaded child pornography in December alone.

“These child predators need to be quickly prosecuted and the children identified in these horrific images need to be immediately removed from these terrible situations,” she said. “We can prosecute the offenders today. We just need the Legislature to give us the tools.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania opposes the measure. It contends that eliminating the requirement for a search warrant in the first stage of such investigations would reduce the courts’ role as a check on abuses of government power.

“There is no mechanism for ensuring that this power is actually used for only those investigations,” said ACLU lobbyist Andy Hoover.

“The attitude of the supporters is, ‘Trust us.’ But our system is built on checks and balances, not trust that the people in government will always do the right thing,” he said.

Rep. Rick Saccone, the bill’s sponsor, compared the present requirement for the first search warrant to a police officer running a check on a motorist’s license plate.

“We wouldn’t ask the police to get a search warrant to run your license plate” and then require a separate warrant to search the vehicle, the Allegheny County Republican said. “It’s the same principle.”

Kane said the use of administrative subpoenas is widespread in the federal government. She said examples of the more limited subpoena authority held by Pennsylvania agencies include the Department of Public Welfare’s use of subpoenas to require submission to genetic testing to establish paternity and to obtain personal information in child-support cases.

Saccone introduced his bill in the last session, but it died without final action last year.

Saccone’s bill is one of two bills dealing with child abuse that are up for votes by the full House next week. The other measure would protect people who report child abuse from retaliation or discrimination in the workplace.

Two other bills, both requiring state-approved training for people who are required by law to report child abuse, are up for votes by the House Children and Youth Committee.